"This finding makes biological sense, because women tend to weigh less and have lower percentages of total body water than do men, so they should achieve higher degrees of intoxication and, presumably, more hangover per unit alcohol," the researchers said.

The new method involved assessing 13 symptoms - from headache and dehydration to trembling or shaking - of discomfort, or feelings of illness, after a bout of excessive drinking of alcohol. Medically, a hangover is a type of acute drug toxicity. The main symptoms are headache, nausea and fatigue.

The study also found that hangovers were more likely to affect individuals with a personal history of alcohol problems or with at least one biological parent with alcohol-related problems - a finding suggesting that personal factors and inherited dispositions also play roles in an individual's susceptibility to hangover.

The trial run involved a study - supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health - of 1,230 American undergraduate students. On average, the students reported experiencing five of the 13 symptoms - the most common one being 'feeling thirsty', while the least-reported symptom was trembling or shaking. Others included vomiting, feeling weak and being unable to concentrate.

Based on having at least one of those symptoms, most students had experienced a hangover between three and 11 times in the past year, despite only 5% of them being of legal drinking age.

The researchers said they developed their 'hangover scale' to more accurately identify and measure susceptibility to and frequency of hangovers, as the subject had been neglected in alcohol studies.

"This is unfortunate because existing research suggests hangover has important consequences for both society and the individual drinker," they wrote, citing the economic costs of workers taking days off to recover, and accidental injuries and death among the hangover-impaired.

One member of the team, Dr Thomas Piasecki, a psychologist with a special interest in drug addiction and withdrawal symptoms, added: "We were also surprised to discover how little research had been conducted [on hangovers], because the research that does exist suggests that hangovers could be an important factor in the development of problem drinking."

While hangovers are a common phenomenon among university student drinkers in the U.S. and elsewhere, the study indicates that for most of them it does not happen often enough to have a major deleterious impact on their academic performance, the team found. They note, however, that one in four students reported at least one hangover symptom once a month or more often.

For low-risk drinking, Australia's National Health & Medical Research Council recommends that women should have no more than two standard drinks a day, and men should have no more than four standard drinks per day - with at least two alcohol-free days every week.

A standard drink contains about 10 grams of alcohol, equivalent to one small glass of wine (100 ml) or one nip of spirits (30 ml).